Kids board their school bus in Mill Valley on Thursday. The Mill Valley School District is falling short on sales of bus passes for the yellow bus program and city of Mill Valley will have to kick in more money if sales don't increase. (Sherry LaVars/ Special to Marin Independent Journal)

A student shows driver Carlos Ramirez his bus pass while boarding his school bus in Mill Valley on Thursday. The Mill Valley School District is falling short on sales of bus passes for the yellow bus program and city of Mill Valley will have to kick in more money if sales don't increase. (Sherry LaVars/Special to Marin Independent Journal)

Students board a school bus in Mill Valley on Thursday. The Mill Valley School District is falling short on sales of bus passes for the yellow bus program and city of Mill Valley will have to kick in more money if sales don't increase. (Sherry LaVars/Special to Marin Independent Journal)

After three years of declining school bus pass sales, Mill Valley officials are hoping to find a way to boost the program to financial stability.

“We have always envisioned this program as a community-based effort, with each of us doing our part to help out,” Mill Valley Councilwoman Stephanie Moulton-Peters said in an online post. “We hope that parents will sign up and participate before we have to make some difficult decisions in coming weeks.”

The city will consider options at a special public meeting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 26 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley. The program, which has two bus routes serving three schools — Edna Maguire Elementary School, Mill Valley Middle School and Strawberry Point Elementary School — is financed for the 2019-20 school year. However, officials could decide to cut back to one bus route or discontinue service for the winter semester beginning in January if ridership and bus pass sales do not bounce back.

“We are committed to the program and have worked with a dedicated parent group to promote pass sales,” Mill Valley Vice Mayor Sashi McEntee said. “However, the bottom line shows that the city will be responsible for backfilling a significant shortfall if parent participation does not increase in the next few weeks.”

About 165 passes have been sold so far out of a goal of 235 passes needed to eliminate a deficit. The approximately $243,000 program, which was designed to reduce traffic congestion, is financed by the city ($81,000), the Mill Valley School District ($14,000), the county of Marin ($55,000), Measure AA funds through Marin Transit ($25,000) and bus pass fares ($68,000).

The intent of the program, started three years ago as a two-year pilot, was to reduce traffic congestion. That has worked, according to Mill Valley City Manager Jim McCann.

“We have seen significant reduction in travel times over the past year, especially in the morning commute on our main thoroughfares,” McCann said. “We are strong supporters of the program and feel that continued bus service this winter will continue to provide a reduction in traffic congestion.”

If the yellow buses go away, parents in some neighborhoods will have to drive their kids to school, adding to the gridlock and safety risks, said Mill Valley School District parent Cary Hueser.

“Nobody wants the added traffic,” said Hueser, whose three children take the yellow school bus to two different schools. “It’s a lot safer for the kids who are able to walk to school if my car — and other parents’ cars — are off the road.”

Hueser, who lives in the Homestead neighborhood where there aren’t any elementary schools within walking distance, is one of a group of parents who formed Save the Mill Valley School Bus when officials threatened to shutter the program last year. That effort paid off: the yellow school bus program was extended through the end of June.

“It was definitely a win,” Hueser said. “Now, what we need is a long-term commitment.”

Mill Valley is one of five yellow bus programs operating in Marin County’s urbanized areas, said Kelly Zalewski of Marin Transit, which provides operations and contract management assistance for some of the yellow school bus programs. Marin Transit’s board also allocates some of the voter-approved Measure AA funds to the five yellow bus programs.

The other four districts — Miller Creek (formerly Dixie), San Rafael Elementary, Ross Valley, and Reed Union — each have their own special characteristics and unique methods of operation, Zalewski said.

Miller Creek owns its own buses and self-operates its own program, she said. For San Rafael, they contract out with First Student Bus Co., which supplies the buses and drivers. The company and the school district manage the operations.

Ross Valley School District, which has had yellow school buses since the 2015-16 school year, uses the services provided by Marin Transit, which manages a contract with Michael’s Transportation. Michael’s buses pick up and deliver students to and from White Hill Middle School in Fairfax, Hidden Valley Elementary School in San Anselmo and Ross Valley Charter in Fairfax.

Ross Valley recently entered into a joint powers authority agreement with the towns of Fairfax and San Anselmo and the county of Marin to operate the program, with staffing and oversight assistance from Marin Transit.

Likewise, the Reed Union yellow school bus program has a joint powers authority agreement with the town of Tiburon and city of Belvedere. The buses handle the district’s three schools — Bel Aire Elementary, Del Mar Middle School and Reed Elementary — and also serves the Cove School in Corte Madera, which is part of the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District. Marin Transit also assists with staffing and oversight and acts as a liaison on the contract with the bus company.

Meanwhile, in Mill Valley, city officials hope to turn things around, but warn they need to see community support.

According to a Mill Valley staff report for the Sept. 5 meeting, bus pass sales have declined every year, from 278 in 2016-17, to 214 in 2017-18, and 178 in 2018-19. The city, by agreement, is responsible for making up any shortfall.

School officials are taking it seriously.

“We are continuing to promote the program and offer services and have introduced single-ride pass booklets for the month of September,” Mill Valley School District spokesperson Amanda Finlaw said in an email. “These booklets of 10-ride passes for $50 were introduced in the spring of 2019 and helped to cover some costs that were lost through lower pass sales. ”

Finlaw said the 10-ride booklets allow flexibility if kids want to ride their bikes or scooters on a particular day instead of taking the bus.

“In addition to taking the bus, many students walk or ride their bikes, scooters or skateboards as part of the ‘Safe Routes to School Program,’ which promotes ‘green’ ways to get to school. We remain committed partners with the city in offering green ways to travel to school.”